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Comfort for Dark Times
Police crisis team offers
support after tragedies
Hip Hop’s Higher Power
Rennie Harris to return
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www.portlandobserver.com
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Volume XXXVII. Number 45
"T*
0
in 1 0 7 1970
Wednesday • November 28. 2007
*M
Workers
Fightfor
Fairness
Sean Taylor
Custodians, bus
drivers fight cuts
NFL Star Dies
after Shooting
Redskin fans, players shocked
(AP) - Pro Bowl safety Sean Taylor died Tuesday
after he was shot in his home by an apparent intruder,
leaving the Washington Redskins in mourning for a
teammate who seemed to have reordered his life since
becoming a father.
The 24-year-old player died at Jackson Memorial
Hospital in Miami, where he had been airlifted after the
shooting early Monday.
Family friend Richard Sharpstein said Taylor’s
father informed him of the death at about 5:30 a.m.
“His father called and said he was with Christ and
he cried and thanked me,” said Sharpstein, Taylor's
former lawyer. "It's a tremendously sad and unneces­
sary event. He was a wonderful, humble, talented
young man, and had a huge life irt front of him.
Obviously God had other plans.”
A string of mourners, including Taylor’s father,
visited the player's home and embraced outside.
“This is the worst imaginable tragedy,” Redskins
owner Daniel Snyder said. “Our thoughts and prayers
are with Sean's family.”
Redskins teammate Clinton Portis also played with
Taylor at the University of Miami. He had sensed a
new maturity in his close friend.
“It’s hard to expect a man to grow up overnight,"
Portis said. “But ever since he had his child, it was like
a new Sean, and everybody around here knew it. He
was always smiling, always happy, always talking
about his child.”
Taylor’s death comes nearly a year after Broncos
comerback Darrent Williams was killed in a drive-by
»
continued
on page A 10
R aymond R endi . eman
T he P ortland O bserver
Imagine som eone responsible for the m ainte­
nance o f school facilities getting a 30 percent pay
cut during the holidays, a school-cafeteria w orker
without health-care coverage settling on a one-
percent pay increase when inflation is 3.2 percent,
or a school-bus driver enduring w ithout any
contract as a starting point to labor negotiations.
This is not the fantasy world o f some morality
tale, but a reality that Portland Public Schools
adm inistrators are trying to push on its workers.
PPS says that it that it needs to cut costs
somewhere. By reducing the salaries o f its lowest-
paid em ployees, the district contests that all o f its
disbursem ents for wages will still remain within a
com parable range to their respective sectors.
For reliable and experienced em ployees, PPS
com petes with neighboring school districts. But if
the cuts go through, the starting wage o f S I0.70
an hour for custodians, for example, would fall
short o f the w ages paid for school custodians in
Beaverton, David Douglas and Tigard, according
to labor representatives.
T here’s another problem with the offers, ac­
cording to Birdie Kirk, the head custodian at
Benson High School in northeast Portland with 29
years o f experience in the district.
Kirk says school adm inistrators would effec­
tively push out em ployees who are dedicated to
the long-term health and safety o f students.
"W hile some people have one or two kids, I
have 1,200 kids," Kirk says. "I hope that my
by
photo by M ark W ashington /T he
P okti . anu O hsekaer
‘Tis the Season
A lighted tree at downtown’s Pioneer Courthouse Square is a familiar land­
mark for the holidays. The 75-foot Douglas Fir was a gift to the city from
Stimson Lumber.
continued
on page A2
Employment Institute Seeks Larger Role
Helping high-risk
youth build careers
photo by R aymond R endi . eman /T iie P ortland O bserver
Jeff Evans and Kirsten Olivio get in some last-minute
studying after a Youth Employment Institute math class.
TLWeek in
The Review
Time for Healing
Agreeing that Portlanders need time
to heal. Mayor Tom Potter and the
City Council voted last week to
hold any decision to rename a street
after Cesar Chavez. The contro­
versy over Interstate and
Fourth Avenues had gener­
ated charges of racism from
one side and worries of un­
due hardship from the other.
Pageant Sabotage Fails
Beauty pageant organizers
were investigating Sunday
who doused a contestant’s
by R aymond R endi eman
T he P ortland O bserver
Dream s for the future should not be
dim inished for young parents unable to
afford living in P ortland's core area. The
Youth Em ploym ent Institute mostly serves
those living inside o f Portland school-
district boundaries, but the organization is
w orking to reach out to disadvantaged
populations displaced by gentrification.
As one o f the few G E D -preparatory
schools to integrate teen-parenting cu r­
riculum into its alternative-education strat­
egy, the learning center recognizes the
need to serve a broader constituency than
its traditional inner-eastside area.
In targeting dropouts, foster-care youth,
teen parents and offenders, the program 's
evening gowns with pepper spray
and spiked her makeup, causing
her to break out in hives. Ingrid
Marie Rivera had to strip off her
clothes backstage anti apply ice
bags to her face, but stayed com ­
posed and won the Miss Puerto
Rico Universe pageant.
leader wants increasing pressure on fund­
ing sources to end limitation based on
place o f residence.
“So m any o f the teen moms and dads of
color have been moved out to east county,
and th a t's out o f our service area," says
Bennie Boggan, a YEI executive with 23
years experience working with Portland's
highest-risk youth. "W hat we would like
to have are some unrestricted resources
that w ould allow us to serve more kids
with strategies that we know work."
YEI program directors also aim for an
alternative-education program that goes
beyond G ED prep and testing to work
with young adults on barriers that are
inhibiting their success. The institute's
approach to education includes strategies
that support youth with em ploym ent train­
ing and social services, building skills that
address barriers in multiple areas while
preparing youth for the next step in their
and restore the nation s moral au­
thority by closing G uantanamo
Bay’s military prison.
continued y ^ on page Alt!
collided with a police car.
Economic Confidence Falls
A m erican consum ers becam e
m ore p e s s im is tic a b o u t the
economy in November, sending
the Consum er Confidence Index
to the lowest Itvel in two years
amid w orries about rising fuel
costs, an escalating credit crisis
and a housing-m arket slump.
Appointees Support Obama
Barack Obama confronted claims
that he's light on for­
eign policy by sur­
ro u n d in g h im se lf
Tuesday with several
fo re ig n -p o lic y
h e a v y w e ig h ts a p ­
p o in te d by Bill
Clinton who agreed
with his willingness
to meet with tyrants
career.
“W e're trying to make sure kids really
understand the value o f getting an educa­
tion and transferring their education into a
livable w age," says Boggan.
Teaching in a system o f rewards rather
than punishments, YEI provides its stu­
dents with 85 percent attendance a free
bus pass while teen parents get paid $5 for
each day if their attendance exceeds 90
percent. The program operates on a year-
round basis, offering case-m anagem ent
services, free onsite child care, em ploy­
ment training, life-skill classes and addi­
tional rewards for passing tests.
J.J. Lynch, a YEI program manager,
sees the effort to find jobs for students,
even in the offices o f the institute itself, as
a crucial role that is difficult to accomplish
when youth d o n 't have som eone who
Paris Immigrants Riot
Stadium Collapses in Brazil
Youth, many o f them Arab and
black children o f im m igrants, ri­
oted for a third night Tuesday in
P ans' suburbs, targeting a French
establishm ent they feel has left
them behind. The trigger was the
deaths Sunday of two minority
teens when their motor scooter
A stadium collapse that killed
seven people highlighted the
crumbling stateof B razil's soccer
arenas At least 40 others were
injured Sunday night falling 49
feet through a 10-foot wide hole
th at o p e n e d in the c o n c re te
stands of the Fonte Nova sta­
dium. deemed the worst of Brazil's
29 major soccer stadium s in a re­
cent survey.
Musharraf Bows to Pressure
Pervez Musharraf had his last full
day a s Pakistan’s army chief Tues­
day as he
bows to in­
ternational
pressure to
becom e a
c iv ilia n
p re s id e n t.
Faced with
swelling an­
ger over his three-week-old stateof
emergency, thcem battled U.S. ally
plans to take an oath for a second
f iv e - y e a r te rm as p re s id e n t
T hursday.